Category: New

Citizen science research in Brighton and Hove shows that allotments can be as productive as conventional farms. This is a separate project from Measure Your Harvest, which comes from the University of Sheffield, and has published similar findings.

What if the land owners decide to sell off your self-managed allotment site? One action your allotment association could take now would be to “nominate” the land to become an “Asset of Community Value”. This means that the sale of the land would be delayed by six months to give community groups time to enter a bid to buy the land. Nominating the land costs nothing, and the form is available from the Council’s web page. There is more helpful information about the process on that web page, too.

The National Allotments Association recommendations on Covid19 were updated in July 2021.

Sad loss of a Leeds Allotments Stalwart

Melvin Nowland, an allotment plot-holder and Trustee at Headingley Station West Allotments in Leeds, has sadly died following a long illness.

He was committed to the preservation of the allotment movement in Leeds and could be, quite rightly, outspoken to influences he thought detrimental to the allotment movement in Leeds. He was an active member of the Leeds Allotments Federation for more years than I can remember. Even when wheelchair bound, he attended meetings regularly, and events when he could, he showed a very commendable commitment and remained a stalwart to our allotment movement in Leeds.

His contribution to the preservation and running of allotments in Leeds will be sadly missed.

From Phil Gomersall

Here is an interesting article in The Guardian about coping with slugs and snails in our gardens. Can we ever win? Can we even just break even?

We all knew it, but now The Guardian reports on a Sheffield University study that confirms it.

Now the thieves have hit Hayley’s Field allotments and got away with some valuable power mowers and other tools. Then they came back to Ash Road and managed to open the already damaged doors of a shipping container and get away with a ride-on mower worth about £7k. This time they had some good bolt cutters and cut a heavy motor bike chain holding the doors shut. They were very determined to get what they wanted.

Some suggestions:

• A big sign saying CCTV is in operation. Maybe a dummy camera if you can’t manage a real one.
• Take photos of valuable stuff and keep them safe off the site somewhere, along with purchase receipts and serial numbers
• Chain valuable equipment to the floor.
• Enlist neighbors to report suspicious activity at night.

There have been alarming reports of break-ins at several allotment sites in NW Leeds in the last few days. So far there have been reports of break-ins at Ash Road, Meanwood Parkside Road, Headingley Station Allotments and also the Cricket Club nearby. There are probably more attacks to come.

We are dealing with a gang of determined and well equipped criminals here. This is what happened at Ash Road:

On our site at Ash Road, Headingley, the thieves targeted almost every shed on our 9 acre site, so I would guess about 100 sheds entered in total.  Fortunately in most cases the thieves nearly opened doors and looked in, but in a substantial minority of cases there was ransacking of the shed contents.  I have certainly had reports of a rotavator and a couple of strimmers being taken – despite the fact that we warn people not to leave such items in their sheds. We had both our storage containers entered. We lost three petrol strimmers and a petrol hedge trimmer.  

Note that they managed to get into locked sheds and two secure storage containers, causing serious damage in the process. At Parkside Road they broke the lock off the main gate, then drove a vehicle in.

Be vigilant!

There are continued reports of people in the UK receiving mystery seeds in the post that they did not order. The seeds appear to come from foreign countries, and are often listed on customs forms as something else.

If you receive a parcel like this don’t plant the seeds. And don’t add them to your compost. They may be an invasive pest plant, or even spread a plant disease. You can report them to the UK’s Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) on their web site or by emailing them at PlantHealth.info@apha.gov.uk.

There is useful advice on importing plant material safely on the RHS web site.

A new pest is reported in Leeds allotments: allium leaf miner. These are tiny flies that lay their eggs on our onions, shallots, leeks, garlic, etc. The maggots tunnel down through the leaves, causing damage that lets in fungal disease. More information is available from a post at Hollin Lane Allotments’ web pages.